PennMutual’s Accelerated Client Experience (ACE) platform launched 5 years ago, marking one of the most substantial technological advancements in the life insurance industry in recent time. Since its creation, over 107,000 life insurance policies have been issued with a total face amount of over $100 billion dollars. More than 7,400 financial professionals have successfully utilized the ACE platform to help provide the life insurance coverage their clients need.
So what is the ACE platform? ACE is a completely digital life insurance buying experience. A life insurance agent is able to email an invitation to a client to create an application which is filled out entirely online, and electronically signed. The application can be completed with the guidance of an agent during a Zoom session, or left to be done at the client’s convenience. The software does not allow for incomplete or improperly filled paperwork to be submitted, so there is no possibility of a “NIGO” (not in good order) issue that causes an agent to go back to a client for additional signatures with substantial delays, as often occurs with traditional paper applications.
What does the ACE application entail? The client will be filling out the same information as a typical insurance application – a list of medications prescribed, doctor information, a list of any treated conditions, family medical history, current insurance info, etc.
Here is where the real value comes into play: in most cases, an approval offer will be given without medical exams, fluid tests, APS requirements, or telephone interviews. A policy can actually be issued within hours of submitting the application. Hours – instead of the many weeks and sometimes months that the traditional underwriting process could take.
Here are the parameters. Clients must be between the ages of 20 and 65, be applying for $7.5 million or less of death benefit coverage (including existing PennMutual coverage in place), and be assessed at a health rating of standard or better. (Currently, this is not available for residents of New York state, or on survivorship contracts). Clients that will be substandard ratings will still need to go through traditional fluid-underwriting. If there are discrepancies between a client’s prescription or medical history and what is disclosed on the application, this will also likely trigger full traditional underwriting.
Even accounting for the applications when a full medical exam is required, the implementation of the ACE platform has created a 50% reduction in policy issue time. There is a 93% placement ratio for cases that receive an instant rate class (compared to a 73% ratio for paper applications), and ACE submissions account for over 90% of all life insurance applications submitted to PennMutual.
While other insurance carriers have limited offerings of accelerated underwriting, PennMutual’s ACE program offers the widest availability on the product base with the highest amount of potential coverage.
What does this mean for insurance agents? The ACE platform creates a level of efficiency in business processing that has not been seen before in the insurance industry. Tracking case status and communicating updates to clients has never been easier.
What does this mean for clients? The life insurance buying process has traditionally been a painful process that has acted as a hurdle for instituting a vital part of one’s financial planning. By creating a simplistic, efficient path to coverage, the ACE platform is a tool that can encourage clients to enact the protection for families across the country.
